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AIIMS MBBS entrance exam 2018: All you need to know

February 23, 2018 15:20 IST

AIIMS New Delhi will, for the first time ever, conduct the examination on two days.

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) will conduct its annual entrance exam for admissions to the MBBS programme on May 26 and 27, 2018.

The AIIMS entrance examination is the gateway to admission into different AIIMS campuses across India.

Aspirants applying for AIIMS MBBS 2018 will have an added advantage of applying to the two new campuses of AIIMS Guntur and Nagpur from this year onwards, in addition to the existing seven campuses at New Delhi, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Jodhpur, Patna, Raipur and Rishikesh.

This national–level entrance exam is one of three medical entrance tests conducted in India for admissions to MBBS courses, besides NEET and JIPMER MBBS test.

For the first time ever, the examination will be held across two days with two shifts scheduled for each day.

More than two lakh candidates are expected to apply for AIIMS MBBS this year.

A total of 807 MBBS seats will be open for admissions through the exam, with AIIMS New Delhi offering 107 seats and the ones located in Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Jodhpur, Patna, Raipur and Rishikesh offering 100 seats each.

The two new AIIMS in Guntur and Nagpur will offer 50 seats each for this year.

AIIMS New Delhi, the exam conducting authority, has started the process of online registration from February 5 with aspirants being allowed to apply till March 5.

AIIMS MBBS entrance exam 2018: What's New?

Examination to be conducted on two days

The AIIMS New Delhi will, for the first time ever, conduct the examination on two days.

There will be a total of four examination slots of three- and-a-half hour duration each and candidates will be randomly allotted slots.

Introduction of two new campuses

The AIIMS Guntur, Andhra Pradesh and AIIMS Nagpur, Maharashtra are two new AIIMS campuses which has been introduced this year.

The two new campuses will be temporarily run for this year from the premises of Siddartha Medical College, Vijaywada and Government Medical College, Nagpur respectively.

Increase in the number of seats

The total number of seats offered through AIIMS MBBS had been 707 till date.

With the addition of 50 seats each from AIIMS Guntur and AIIMS Nagpur, 100 more seats have been added to the fray, taking the total number of available seats to 807.

Online Counselling

Counselling for qualified candidates as per the merit list will take place in online mode, with candidates not having to physically report to AIIMS New Delhi as was the case till last year.

AIIMS 2018 Application: When and How

The application form for AIIMS is available in online mode only.

The last date to submit the application form is Monday, March 5, till 5.00 pm.

The first step towards applying for AIIMS is to ensure the possession of a valid e-mail ID and mobile number at the time of registration.

The documents that need to be uploaded by candidates while filling their application form include digital copies of digital photograph, signature and left hand thumb impression.

Candidates from the General and OBC categories will be required to pay an application fee of Rs 1,500 while the ST/SC candidates will have to pay Rs 1,200.

‘People with Disability’ or PwD candidates are not required to pay any application fee.

Candidates will need to give their preference for exam centres, offered across 155 cities tentatively, at the time of filling the form.

The exam centre will be allotted on a 'first come first serve basis' and the choice once made will not be changed.

Eligibility Criteria for AIIMS MBBS 2018 

As per the AIIMS MBBS entrance eligibility criteria, candidates need to complete 17 years of age as of December 31, 2018.

There is no upper age limit for applying to the AIIMS MBBS course.

The educational eligibility criteria states that only those candidates who have appeared/passed or are appearing in Class 12 this year are eligible to apply.

The candidates should also ensure that they have studied physics, chemistry, biology and English in Class 12 and scored an aggregate of at least 60 per cent (50 per cent for ST/SC/PwD) in these subjects.

About AIIMS exam pattern 

The AIIMS examination will be a Computer Based Test (CBT) held in online mode.

The question paper will comprise a total of 200 objective questions.

There will be 60 questions from the subjects of physics, chemistry and biology each, and 20 questions based on general knowledge.

The objective questions will comprise both Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) and Assertion-Reason type questions.

The question paper will carry a total of 200 marks, with each question carrying 1 mark. There is a negative marking of one-third mark for each incorrect answer.

Preparation tips

The key to cracking an exam like AIIMS lies in the basic understanding of concepts from Class 11 and 12.

Similar to NEET, the syllabus of AIIMS is also based primarily on NCERT Class 11 and Class 12 textbooks. However, the difficulty level of questions is much higher, with the assertion-reason type questions often proving to be particularly tricky.

Therefore, applicants should ensure they cover the syllabus by February at the very least, so that they can spend the remaining time for revision and grasping the concepts better.

Candidates also need to keep themselves updated on current affairs and develop sound general knowledge as that section of the question paper carries significant weightage in terms of determining one’s final merit position.

Qualifying marks and Merit percentile

The AIIMS New Delhi will declare the result on June 18, 2018.

Candidates appearing in the examination will have to score the required category-wise minimum percentage to clear the exam and a separate category-wise merit cut-off percentile to be eligible for counselling.

Candidates belonging to the general category will have to obtain a minimum of 50 per cent marks in the entrance test, the OBC candidates need to obtain a minimum of 45 per cent marks while those belonging to the SC/ST categories will have to score 40 per cent or more to qualify the exam.

The final qualifying cut off percentile for each category will depend on the number of applicants and the difficulty level of the exam and thus, may vary accordingly.

If the percentile equivalent of the cut-off percentage comes out to be different in each shift, then a normalisation procedure will be used.

Through this, the lower of the four percentiles obtained across each of the shifts will be the final qualifying cut-off.

For instance, if across the four shifts, Unreserved candidates qualify AIIMS MBBS exam in the 90th percentile, 87th percentile, 85th percentile and 80th percentile respectively by obtaining the minimum of 50 per cent AIIMS MBBS 2018 cutoff, then as per the normalisation procedure, the 80th percentile will become the cutoff percentile of AIIMS MBBS 2018.

Following this will be the AIIMS MBBS merit cut-off percentile.

As per the AIIMS policy, upto  4 times the number of candidates are shortlisted for counselling as the number of seats in their particular categories.

The percentile score obtained by the last candidate in each category will thus be the AIIMS MBBS merit cut-off and only those candidates scoring equal to or more than this mark will be invited for the first round of counselling.

What after the declaration of result?

The procedure that follows declaration of AIIMS result is the counselling for MBBS seats available in different AIIMS campuses across the country.

The counselling will be conducted by AIIMS New Delhi in online mode and will tentatively begin in the first week of July, 2018.

It will most likely comprise a total of four rounds, lasting till September 2018.

Candidates who score the minimum required merit percentile will have to go through a one-time registration, filling up of preferences for the different AIIMS institutes, mock allocation of seats, choice re-shuffling, final seat allocation and acceptance/rejection of the allocated seat.

Candidates would also be able to hold the allotted seats and participate in further choice-upgradation rounds.

The classes for the new session of AIIMS MBBS will commence from the month of July.

Have doubts? Get answers to all your questions regarding AIIMS at Careers360 Q&A

Lead image used for representational purposes only.

Tanzim Zaha Hazarika
careers360
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